Stay fit, switch to Sugar Free

Exercise is a strange & #BANNER1 & # feature of modern life. Most people want to cut down on calories and rid their bodies of extra flab. But talk exercise, and the excuses come flowing in… busy schedules, plain laziness, health reasons…

In fact, a dream come true would be if you could get rid of those extra calories without exercising. And Sugar Free Gold is trying to help you make it happen by becoming your calorie manager.

Jyoti Shiralee, general manager, marketing, Zydus Cadila, says, "Three years ago, our communication strategy was to reposition Sugar Free as a healthier substitute for sugar and not just a medicine for diabetics. Then we moved to educating people about the product and about it being a daily calorie manager. After that, we took the brand a step forward by appointing Raveena Tandon and Harsha Bhogle as its brand ambassadors and positioning the product as one that anyone can use."

Shiralee adds, "Now our communication strategy is to position Sugar Free Gold as providing freedom from calories. We are addressing various obstacles that come in the way of fighting calories and communicating that switching to Sugar Free Gold can be an alternative to keep a check on those unwanted 500 calories." It is estimated that a person consumes 500 calories daily in the form of sugar alone.

The TVC opens with a hassled mother, busy with her chores and handling too many things at the same time. She is feeding her children breakfast with the phone pressed between shoulder and ear. She exclaims, "Gawd! It's so late." And shouts, "Kanta bai, mere liye Tai Chi class jaogi (Kanta 'bai', will you go to my Tai Chi class for me)?" The next scene shows the maid practising Tai Chi moves in the class.

Next, we have a man walk into a boardroom, in which there are three or four men, and ask, "Hi guys! Meri ek bahut zaroori meeting hain, tum log mere liye zara jogging kar ao (Hi guys! I have an important meeting, will you go jogging for me)?" Next scene: four men in business suits, jogging in a park.

In the third part, a woman busy at work on a laptop yells, "Gaurav, mere liye aerobics ke liye jaoge please (Gaurav, please go to the aerobics class for me)", and gets back to work. The man in question is shown sweating it out in an aerobics class. The voiceover says, 'No time to exercise? Make a start with Sugar Free Gold. Din ke 500 calories kam, tension khatam. Freedom from calories.'

Shiralee says, "We are reaching out to passive fitness seekers who feel guilty about not exercising, but cannot manage to exercise because of lack of time, inertia or just because their desire to exercise is half-hearted."

Ashish Khazanchi, executive creative director, Rediffusion DY&R, says, "We have used the insight where we ask people to fill in for us if we can't do something ourselves or where we wish that someone else would do a job for us."

He continues, "There is one category where people are fitness enthusiasts and then there is another where, at a subconscious level, you want to remain fit, but somehow never end up in the gym. We are telling the latter category to incorporate Sugar Free in their lifestyle and at least get rid of the guilt of consuming 500 extra calories."

Shivendra Singh, the filmmaker who made the ad, says, "While shooting the commercial, we were conscious of getting the milieu right and also that the humour expressed should not come across as being overboard. For this, it was essential to get the characterisation right."

The music scored by Ram Sampat, with the word, 'Time', also adds to the humour, says Singh.

Shiralee informs agencyfaqs! that the TVC is an extension of the print campaign which Sugar Free launched some five months ago, in which it tried to address various barriers to fitness. Based on the campaign, the company undertook research, looking for barriers that were credible and appealing. Shiralee does not rule out further campaigns that will address barriers other than lack of time to exercise.